Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Who doesn't love Shutterfly! I know I do. I have ordered Photobooks, Yearly Calendars and Christmas Cards. They are great! And always have such a good quality. This is also where I made special announcement cards to tell our families we were pregnant both times (with Genevieve and this baby). So I am a big fan of Shutterfly.

With Christmas approaching, I have been thinking about what we are going to do for a Christmas Card this year. I went to the Christmas Cards Section on Shutterfly and fell in love with so many of their cards.

I love how they have highlighted the words among the "subway art" on this one.

So don't be surprised if you get one of the above cards (insert our family) in your mailbox this year. They are fantastic!

As I mentioned before, I always make a Shutterfly Photo Calendar every year. Just like the picture below. Genevieve loves to see the pictures of herself from last year. It's the fun part of changing the calendar every year! And I love looking back and remembering what our family did last year. And I really like plugging in the birthdays into their system and they remember it for me so when I make my calendar for 2011, it will all be there remembering my birthdays...we'll just have one extra one to add!

Something else Shutterfly offers is their Canvas Wall Art. I have been wanting to get a canvas picture for a while now. I mean, how cute is this picture below. I have so many wedding pictures and none of them hanging up. I totally am adding this to my Christmas List! I would love to have a wrapped canvas picture hanging in our house. I have no doubt that their quality is fantastic.

So has that got you thinking about what you are doing for Christmas this year? Do you have your Christmas Card Designs yet? I highly recommend checking out Shutterfly for your cards and photo gifts this year. They have SO many things to choose from!

Fellow bloggers, want to find out more about how you can get 50 FREE Holiday Cards from Shutterfly...click HERE to find out! Good Luck.

One of the crafty blogs that I follow posted a link to this turkey shirt tutorial. I fell in love with it! I ended up finding a $2 tee and used some of my scraps. I ended up needing to "find" (aka buy) some extras too...I didn't have too many fall colors quite yet. For the turkey body, I dug into my giant felt stash.

Genevieve was so excited about this shirt when it was done. Her exact words were "Oh WOW!" Another success in the eyes of a toddler! She has wanted to wear this shirt everyday since I made it a week ago.

What a fun project for scraps! Now I'm just thinking of all the other holidays and what shirt I can create with scraps next!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Genevieve is growing out of all her hooded towels. So when walking through Tar.get one day, I spotted some clearance towels. I picked up a bath towel and two matching wash clothes. I would have ideally picked a different color and a hand towel vs 2 wash clothes, but orange was the only bath towel left. It worked out fine, Genevieve loves the color and loves the towel! And it only took me 15 minutes to whip up. I'd say that's a success!

Monday, November 1, 2010

This year I decided it was going to be a Homemade Halloween. Growing up I loved that my mom made our costumes. So this year I decided to start the tradition to make Genevieve's costumes homemade from here on out.

So here we are:

Genevieve is a little lady bug and I am a skeleton (baby and all)

Our little lady ready to go to the special zoo event

I made a no-sew tutu skirt for the costume. I opted not to put spots on the skirt, it just didn't seem to need them. (there are so many tutorials on the Internet if you are interested in making a tutu for your little one)

For the antennas, I found a package of three headbands at the do.llar store and purchased some pipe cleaners and fuzzy craft balls....add some hot glue into the mix and there you have it! Genevieve and I had so much fun making the lady bug one, I let her pick from the other two color headbands and pipe cleaners and we made a second set for her to play with...we call them her funny bug.

And those wings...oh my, they were a little more challenging. I used wire hangers to shape the wings. I first made them too big and had to redo them. Trying to figure out what to use for the red of the wings was the challenge. First I tried tights...I even purchased 1xl-2xl and they wouldn't stretch. They I tried more tulle that I used for the skirt....well that was too see through. SO, finally I remembered that my husband has a red tee shirt and it was the perfect size! He was a little hesitant to let me cut up his shirt...but we convinced him otherwise. Once I had the tee in hand, it was all hot glue gun from there! The little black spots are felt circles I cut out. Then add a little elastic and there you have it! The cutest little ladybug there is!

In September I started searching for a Halloween maternity shirt and found a few, but most importantly saw a skeleton one with a baby fetus...but I was not willing to spent over $30 on it! So I just blew it off and said I didn't need a special shirt. Then one of the blogs I follow, G.et Your Craft.On, posted this....it was that same skeleton I saw before. But this time it was just the iron on and much more reasonable. Well, It was too late for me to order something to iron onto a shirt. So again I just blew it off and said oh well, I don't need a special shirt. THEN another bog I follow, M.ake It and L.ove It, posted this. PERFECT! I already had a roll of freezer paper sitting in my pantry waiting for the perfect project to try out stenciling with. So on Friday I went to the store and purchased a men's long sleeve black tee for $7. I burned the midnight oil Friday night, 1:30am to be exact, to create my skeleton shirt. It was a lot easier then I thought to use the freezer paper stencil idea. You should try it! I LOVE the way it turned out!!! And it was dry just in time for us to go trick-or-treating at the zoo.

I really do love how both of our costumes turned out. We had SO many compliments at the zoo and trick-or-treating the next day. I was so proud to tell people I made both costumes when they asked. I even had several people tell me that Genevieve's ladybug costume was the cutest one they had ever seen...better then the ones at the store. Love it! We will defiantly be doing homemade costumes from here on out!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

It's almost time for all the kids to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating! Last year I made Genevieve a special trick-or-treat bag that she will be able to use over and over again. I love the way it turned out and we got SO many compliments on it last year. Next year I will be crafting a 2nd one for baby #2...can't wait. It's such a fun project to do.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I've updated my blog layout and added my new header! What do you think? I personally love it! The header is also my new label that I had custom made for me. I was super happy to get those in the mail. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Also...what do you think? Should I open an etsy store? I've been thinking about it...but keep in mind, I am super busy with my Masters work as well. It worries me if I will have enough time for all of it. Which is also why I have been slacking on both my blogs (other then the fact that blogger won't let me upload anymore photos). Just want to check in! :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A high school friend of mine LOVED the idea of the Very Hungry Caterpillar frame that I made for Amy back in May. She.had.to.have.one!!! lol. So I was so happy meet up with her and create Matthew's Very Hungry Caterpillar Frame. I love it just as much as the original one!

(Sorry this is late...originally created back in June. Thank you Meaghan for the amazing pictures!)

Saturday, July 31, 2010

I have had my eye out looking for a cute pettiskirt, and in my opinion everyone has them way too overpriced. I will just make my own! And I can do that now with this tutorial! Thanks Make It and Love It!!!

Friday, July 9, 2010

More Coloring Folders! These are so much fun to make. A fellow mommy, Jenn, commissioned me to make two for her children, Mia and Lucas. I of course said yes. This was also the perfect time to make one for Genevieve too. Genevieve jumped for joy the other day when she saw hers. She has been wanting one ever since I made the original coloring folder for a birthday gift.

(L to R) Flower Power for Mia, Mod for Lucas,and Garden Love for Genevieve

And here they are all opened up

Are you loving the coloring folders too??? Want one for your child? Contact me at thatsjustcrafty@yahoo.com for pricing information.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

My newest creation is the Car Roll Up! I love how it turned out, especially since I was up until 3am the night before finishing it...for a party the next day. Talk about last minute. There are a few things that I might add to the next one. But for now I love it! It has a parking garage for five cars, a road to drive around town, a mud pit/construction zone, a car wash, a gas station, and a pond. Let your child's imagination run wild with this one!!! I can't wait to make another one for Genevieve!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I love this strawberry fabric I got...perfect for the summer! And I love doing the shirring technique. Out of the yard and a half that I got, I was able to create a shirt for Genevieve, a dress for Mikayla's Birthday and a smaller version of the dress for Baby Addison.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Hello to everyone who saw us (Genevieve & I) featured on The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom. Genevieve and I had a lot of fun testing out products and writing a review...there is also a Giveaway. To all my readers, make sure you head over to The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom, read the review, see G's cute product testing photos, and sign up for the giveaway...make sure you tell her I sent you! Good Luck! And thanks for stopping by...make sure to become a follower of my blog while your here!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

I've been throwing around the idea of making these for a while now. I know Genevieve would love having one of these when we are out a dinner somewhere and we need a little time filler while she's waiting on her meal. They fold up so perfectly and fit right into the diaper pag or even your purse...it's only 7 inches tall.

This specific coloring folder is for a birthday gift for one of Genevieve's little toddler friends. We have quite a bit of Birthdays coming up and I have decided to make 90% of the gifts. At least I'm going to attempt...I'm about to start classes & have 4 this summer!

Detail of the Left Crayon Pocket

Detail of the Center Notebook Holder

Detail of the Right Note PocketsThere are 2 pockets, perfect for bringing along stickers orplacing finished works of art!

I just love the way it turned out and hope our little friend enjoys it! (And I hope their mommy doesn't see this...and if she does, she can guess if it's for her little one ;) )

Friday, May 28, 2010

I recently learned how to do smocking or shirring as seen in my premade fabric that I used on the sun dress I made for Genevieve. Now that I know how to do this technique...it opens up the fabric possibilities for making this style of dress. I've had my eye on this fabric at Hobby.Lobby for quite some time now and decided to use it to test out my new technique. I made a dress for both Genevieve and her cousin Margot with matching headbands.

Welcome to That's Just Crafty

Hello there, my name Melissa and welcome to That's Just Crafty. I a 30-something mom to 2 fantastic kids and wife extraordinaire. I have my Masters of Arts in Teaching in Family and Consumer Sciences...that's a lot of words to say I teach clothing, foods & nutrition, child development, human relationships, and so much more to the next generation. I absolutely love my job- I get to share my passion with my students everyday, have lots of fun, create new things and guide our students into the real world. Who wouldn't love that kind of job!

Crafting has always been a part of my life! I love to take pictures, sew, bake and do crafty projects. This blog is dedicated to my many hobbies...

If you are interested in contacting me...you may do so at: ThatsJustCrafty@yahoo.com

Please Note: All Pictures posted on this blog are the property That's Just Crafty and Melissa Lorenz Photography. They may not be copied, reposted or used with out the permission of Melissa Lorenz. Thanks!